1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a file processing apparatus and method capable of editing image characteristics of a color-image processing file.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image capturing apparatuses, such as digital cameras, that include image processing modes optimized for various scenes to be shot, such as a landscape shooting mode, a portrait shooting mode, and so on, have been proposed. For example, color-image processing that more vividly renders blue skies, trees, and so on is executed in the stated landscape shooting mode, whereas color-image processing that attractively renders the skin tones of the person who is the subject is executed in the portrait shooting mode. Selecting these shooting modes included in the image capturing apparatus makes it possible for a user to obtain image data on which color-image processing optimized for each type of shooting scene has been performed.
However, with regards to such shooting modes, new shooting modes are constantly being developed, resulting in new types of image capturing apparatuses that include these newly-developed shooting modes continuously going on sale. For this reason, even image capturing apparatuses that have been purchased recently do not include newly-developed shooting modes, and thus these apparatuses are, functionally speaking, deficient.
In order to solve this kind of problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-333417, for example, proposes downloading a color-image processing file that includes a color-image processing program for a new shooting mode via a communication line from a server connected to a network and installing that file in an image capturing apparatus. With an image capturing apparatus including this kind of update function, which utilizes a program or the like, a user can easily shoot images using the latest shooting mode, even after the image capturing apparatus has been purchased, by downloading the color-image processing file for that shooting mode and installing it in that image capturing apparatus.
However, although the technique proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-333417 does make it possible to shoot pictures using the latest shooting mode, preferences vary significantly from user to user, and thus all users may not be able to obtain the image they prefer.
A color-image processing file editing apparatus, through which a user can edit the saturation, brightness, and hue of the color, the gamma properties, and other such image processing characteristics determined by the color-image processing file, has therefore been proposed separately from the previously mentioned technique. By using such a color-image processing file editing apparatus to edit color-image processing files by themselves, individual users can create color-image processing files with which image data having image characteristics that fulfill the users' own preferences can be obtained.
Incidentally, a three-dimensional Look Up Table (“3D-LUT” hereinafter) is an example of a means utilized to apply image processing characteristics held by the color-image processing file to the image data itself. With the 3D-LUT, the amount of data that constitutes the file, or in other words, the size of the file, is extremely large. Therefore, using a matrix operation expression that indicates the same characteristics as the 3D-LUT, rather than using the 3D-LUT itself, has been proposed.
Storing only the coefficients of the matrix operation expression (the matrix operation coefficients) in the color-image processing file significantly reduces the amount of data thereof, making it possible to conserve space in a memory included in the image capturing apparatus when the data of the color-image processing file is loaded into that image capturing apparatus.
With regards to such a color-image processing file, in which matrix operation coefficients are stored, it is necessary to store both the matrix operation coefficients and edit history separately from one another in the color-image processing file when editing processing is to be executed using the color-image processing file editing apparatus. Then, when the image processing characteristics of the color-image processing file are to be applied to image data, it is necessary to create a 3D-LUT that incorporates the edit history from the stored matrix operation coefficients and edit history, and apply the created 3D-LUT to the image data. Therefore, with this color-image processing file editing apparatus, it is necessary to retain a history of editing processing as edit history information so that the editing processing can be altered later.
Meanwhile, in the case where an edited color-image processing file is provided to another user, displaying only the history of the editing that user him/herself has performed and not displaying the history of the editing the provider of the file performed makes it easier for the user who has been provided with the color-image processing file to confirm and edit the file. In other words, if plural users have edited the same color-image processing file, it is preferable to hide the edit history aside from the history of the editing a user him/herself has performed. In such a manner, omitting the edit history information from the color-image processing file and storing only the 3D-LUT, with the edit history applied thereto, in the color-image processing file is one way to hide the edit history from third parties.
However, with the color-image processing file described earlier, in which matrix operation coefficients are stored instead of a 3D-LUT in order to reduce the file size, the edit history cannot be applied to the matrix operation coefficients. For this reason, it is necessary to store both the matrix operation coefficients and the edit history information in the color-image processing file. In such a case, it is not possible to distinguish whether or not the edit history information stored in that image processing file is to be displayed.